Mary Luz Gómez-López

Ms. Mary Luz Gómez-López

CINVESTAV Unidad Monterrey

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

5Years (2022-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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3 February 2022 in Sensors
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
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YCYojana Carreón
Yojana Carreón
Mary Luz Gómez-LópezMary Luz Gómez-López
Mary Luz Gómez-López
OHOrlando Díaz Hernández
Orlando Díaz Hernández
PVPamela Vazquez-Vergara
Pamela Vazquez-Vergara
RMRosario E. Moctezuma
Rosario E. Moctezuma
JGJorge González-Gutiérrez
Jorge González-Gutiérrez
The morphological analysis of patterns in dried droplets has allowed the generation of efficient techniques for the detection of molecules of medical interest. However, the effectiveness of this method to reveal the coexistence of macromolecules of the same species, but different conformational states, is still unknown. To address this problem, we present an experimental study on pattern formation in dried droplets of bovine serum albumin (BSA), in folded and unfolded conformational states, in saline solution (NaCl). Folded proteins produce a well-defined coffee ring and crystal patterns all over the dry droplet. Depending on the NaCl concentration, the crystals can be small, large, elongated, entangled, or dense. Optical microscopy reveals that the relative concentration of unfolded proteins determines the morphological characteristics of deposits. At a low relative concentration of unfolded proteins (above 2%), small amorphous aggregates emerge in the deposits, while at high concentrations (above 16%), the “eye-like pattern”, a large aggregate surrounded by a uniform coating, is produced. The radial intensity profile, the mean pixel intensity, and the entropy make it possible to characterize the patterns in dried droplets. We prove that it is possible to achieve 100% accuracy in identifying 4% of unfolded BSA contained in a protein solution.